Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A person with refined taste, especially in food and wine.
  • noun A person devoted to sensuous pleasure and luxurious living.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To live like an epicure; epicurize.
  • noun [cap. or lowercase] A follower of Epicurus; an Epicurean: seldom, if ever, used without odium.
  • noun Popularly (owing to a misrepresentation of the ethical part of the doctrines of Epicurus), one given up to sensual enjoyment, and especially to the pleasures of eating and drinking; a gormand; a person of luxurious tastes and habits.
  • noun Synonyms Epicure, Gourmet, and Gormand agree in representing one who cares a great deal for the pleasures of the table. The epicure selects with a fastidious taste, but is luxurious in the supply of that which he likes. The gourmet is a connoisseur in food and drink, and a dainty feeder. The gormand differs from a glutton only in having a more discriminating taste.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A follower of Epicurus; an Epicurean.
  • noun One devoted to dainty or luxurious sensual enjoyments, esp. to the luxuries of the table.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A person who is devoted to sensual pleasures or sensuous living.
  • noun A person with highly refined tastes in food, wine, music et cetera.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person devoted to refined sensuous enjoyment (especially good food and drink)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, an Epicurean, from Medieval Latin epicūrus, from Latin Epicūrus, Epicurus, from Greek Epikouros.]

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